FACES OF THE LIVING DEAD: THE BELIEF IN SPIRIT PHOTOGRAPHY.FACES OF THE LIVING DEAD: THE BELIEF IN SPIRIT PHOTOGRAPHY by Martyn Jolly. Mark Batty Publisher/160 pp./ [pounds sterling]20.00 (hb). In the wake of the Metropolitan Museum of Art's lauded exhibition, "The Perfect Medium," Martyn Jolly's Faces of the Living Dead: The Belief in Spirit Photography provides an intriguing and further contribution to the subject. Both the catalog to "The Perfect Medium" and Jolly's text begin with a similar history chronicling the roots of the Spiritualist spir·i·tu·al·ism n. 1. a. The belief that the dead communicate with the living, as through a medium. b. The practices or doctrines of those holding such a belief. 2. Movement in the aftermath of the Civil War. Fueled by a longing for reunion and remembrance for those who had been lost, spirit photography offered tangible proof of the deceased tactilely present, emulsified upon a glass plate. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] However, where the interest of "The Perfect Medium" is in the collision between photography and the occult, Jolly's focus is more narrowly, historically focused as he adeptly weaves together the key players between the heyday of both the American and European movement The European Movement is an international lobbying association that coordinates the efforts of associations and private individuals desiring to work towards the construction of a united Europe. (c. 1870-1930), which he describes as a period in which "gullible clients, cunning mediums, opportunistic mentors and hubristic investigators created a rich imaginative economy where ideas, images and interpretations circulated, cross-infected and interpenetrated each other" (144). As a reader, I found myself captivated cap·ti·vate tr.v. cap·ti·vat·ed, cap·ti·vat·ing, cap·ti·vates 1. To attract and hold by charm, beauty, or excellence. See Synonyms at charm. 2. Archaic To capture. by the deception, and felt a kinship to the witnesses in the infamous 1875 trial of spirit photographer Edouard Buguet. For, even after they were told how Buguet had created his duplicitous images, they still chose to believe. Ultimately, Jolly reminds us how all portrait photographs can be understood within the realm of spirit realm of Spirit, n according to Native American culture, a term that refers to the unconscious world that belongs to an individual or a group of people. Pertinent information is passed from this world to the patient and the healer. photography, binding the living to the deceased, lived experience with memory. SARAH Sarah or Sarai: see Sara. Sarah (flourished early 2nd millennium BC) In the Hebrew scriptures, the wife of Abraham and mother of Isaac. She was childless until age 90. E. WEBB is an artist and independent curator residing in Rochester, New York This article is about the city of Rochester in Monroe County. For the town in Ulster County, see Rochester, Ulster County, New York. Rochester, once known as The Flour City, and more recently as The Flower City or . She is the co-editor of Singular Women: Writing the Artist (2003). |
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